10th Annual Gourd Festival - Show Highlights
Here are some highlights from the 2006 Gourd
Art Festival at the Welburn Gourd Farm!
Over 30 incredible Gourd Art Classes were offered the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before the event! To see classes currently offered at the Welburn Gourd Farm, click here!
A student in Toni Best's Teneriffe Weaving class shows off her gourd. |
Another gorgeous gourd created
by one of Toni's students.
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Bonnie Gibson's Power Carving class.
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A finished gourd created by a student in Diane Connelly's Beginning Gourd Crafting class.
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Two of Diane's students
with their gourds.
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Leigh Adams teaches Drum Making.
It's hard to say who enjoys the class more, Leigh or her students! |
Carrie Dearing demos for her students in the Eagle Head Woodburning class. |
Gourd Art by instructor,
Carrie Dearing. |
A student in Mary Segreto's Gold Leafing class shows off her beautiful gourd. |
One of the gourds created in Kathy Riker's Spirit Doll class. |
A student poses with her
finished gourd, created in
the Feather Rim gourd class.
|
A close-up of the feather rim
gourd pictured left. |
Interested in taking part in gourd art classes
offered at the next festival? Be sure to sign the Gourd Festival mailing
list!
Welcome
to the main event...
The line to enter the festival
stretched almost the entire width
of the festival grounds! |
The drawing for the $400 gourd art piece was won by Anglea Ray-Hudachko of
Oceanside, CA!
|
Inside the festival grounds there
was so much to see, people
hardly new what to look at first! |
Marjorie Houston from Hawaii had
her booth so packed Saturday morning you could hardly get in! |
Beautiful and well-planned booth displays such as this one by Mary
Pryor helped create a high level
of professionalism at the show. |
Diane Connelly's incredible booth display featured a garland of ivy
around the rim with hundreds
of jewelry gourds woven in! |
"Another great show...Always nice to be among other fine gourd artists to share ideas and gossip.
Great hosts, easy set-up keep it up Welburn group..." -
Ernie Elmer, Second Wind Studios
The California Gourd Society volunteers did a fantastic job organizing and presenting this
year's Gourd Art Competition! |
This incredible carved piece by
Bonnie Gibson won 2 ribbons,
including a Judge's Award.
|
Best In Show went to Mary
Segreto for her awesome
gourd back pack piece!
|
Award winning gourd
art by Pat Zandi. |
Award winning gourd art
by Garey Ford.
|
Award winning gourd art.
(If you would like your name
credited here, please email us
so we can add it to the web site!) |
The Gourd Crafting Arena was a popular spot! The Arena was organized and
staffed completely by the California
Gourd Society, and all proceeds went
to generate this 501(3c) organization.
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Even young artists had the
opportunity to create a
gourd in the arena, thanks
to the tireless efforts of
Leigh Adams who ran the
Kids' Crafting Area!
|
After Roberto Belloso performed with his gourd shekeres (photo inset), his 8-year old daughter wow'ed the crowds by playing
a solo on
the bongo drums! |
Did you get hooked on gourds in the Gourd Crafting
Arena? Want the opportunity to learn more? Become a member of
the California Gourd Society and get in on the gourd fun! Click
here.
Artist/exhibitor Booker Preston (left) presented incredible gourd purses that were all the rage!
|
Dave Sisk from Arizona with his stunning gourd masques.
|
A festival-goer admires the
intricate
carving of Tito Media,
who came all the way from Peru. |
The Fine Arts Showcase was a big
hit with the festival crowd, so much so there was barely room to walk! |
Maria Dellos kept the demo booth
packed with her captivating gourd
art demonstrations.
|
You know you're a true
gourd
lover when...
You get a gourd tattoo! |
With the introduction of the
new gourd ink dyes, the
GourdMaster booth was
a popular stop.
|
Festival guests enjoy relaxing by the fountain in the beautiful wine garden, presented by the Fallbrook Village Rotary club.
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As one of the four Featured Artists for this year's event, Larry McClelland gave a special presentation on his artwork. |
Artists Mark and Karen Klay from Arizona always seem to avoid the camera...Well, at least we got a shot of their incredible gourd art! |
Evon Johnston creates his beautiful
gourd art designs entirely with a woodburner (pyrography tool)! |
First-time festival exhibitor, Elizabeth Green, attracted attention with her brilliantly colored works of art. |
We just can't resist those endless
racks of raw gourds! |
The question is, how many
gourds will my garage hold?
I've never really given it a test.
Well, no time like the present! |
"I once caught a gourd
that was THIS BIG!" |
The huge bin of jewelry gourds
always makes people smile.
|
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What's more important, fitting the gourds in the car or fitting the passengers...hmmm, tough call.
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Behind the scenes...
The festival staff wears headsets...so they can feel important! (Just kidding.) Many thanks to the hard-working senior staff:
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Danny Barajas
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Vickie Knox
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Robert Imbriale and Doug Welburn
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Sue Welburn |
Laura Cunningham and
Phoebe Welburn
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(Not pictured, Mila Pantovich, who worked many long hours in the festival office and as parking crew supervisor.)
The Welburn family, (left to right), Laura, Doug, Phoebe, and Sue.
Special thanks to the Garnsey family for all
of their help and support. Much gratitude to Jo Cavanaugh and Allison Oster for their tireless efforts the week of the event.
Most of all, thank you to you, the
festival attendee, for coming out to enjoy the show! Please tell
us what you thought of the festival: Click
here.
